


Burn (I Hope That You)

by koalaxninja



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Gen, Non-Graphic Violence, bad guy monologues for most of this, fire warning, post-3x08
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-22
Updated: 2018-09-22
Packaged: 2019-07-15 11:06:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16061831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koalaxninja/pseuds/koalaxninja
Summary: Written post-3x08, an alternate take on the parabatai fight scene from 3x10.





	Burn (I Hope That You)

Alec was trying to remember how to breathe. 

He had done it before, he was pretty sure, but laying on his back in this dirty alley from where he had been thrown by the Owl, it was proving a difficult task. 

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” the Owl sneered in Jace’s voice, advancing slowly on him, a cruel smirk twisting up Jace’s features. “We’re _parabatai_. It’s a battle bond. I know every move you’re going to make.” 

Alec ignored him, finally pulling in a couple short breaths past the screaming agony that was his ribcage. He twisted his head the other way, searching out Izzy. She hadn’t moved from where the Owl had thrown her into the wall, her whip loose and limp around her, but she was breathing. He watched her chest rise and fall by the flickering light of the flames burning all around the alley. 

Finding the Owl again had been easy compared to the battle he had waged against the Lightwood siblings this time. The Owl knew them better now, knew their tactics, and used this to his advantage. Lilith, apparently, was not taking any chances with her favorite pet any more either, and had given him a secret weapon the Owl had taken no time in showing off: command of Edom’s hellfires. The Owl flung balls of flames around, laughing like they were playing a game, as he kept out of reach of Izzy’s whip, and dragged Alec in close. Alec was forced to fight in close range, dropping his bow in favor of his seraph blade, only for the Owl to seize his bow and snap it across Izzy’s skull before tossing her off to the side. Alec didn’t last long under the single-minded onslaught he faced, and getting tossed twenty feet across the alley almost felt like a relief.

Alec groaned as the Owl kicked him under his ribs, flipping him over almost face first into the flames that were consuming the snapped remains of his bow. Alec felt a stab of regret as the weapon burned, not even its Nephilim magic enough to protect it. 

“That little stunt you and your sister pulled with that Warlock actually reminded me how useful this _parabatai_ bond can be,” the Owl continued, crouching down next to Alec and gripping a fistful of his hair to drag his head back, throat exposed. The Owl didn’t have a weapon, but he didn’t need one. Alec had barely got a hit on him at all, and the hellfire didn’t touch him. Alec had learned that one the hard way when he tried to light one of his arrows on fire to shoot at him. The arrow had flown true, but the fire had consumed the arrow entirely in its short flight and the Owl had simply flicked away the ashes. 

“Obviously it was going to be you coming after your dear, broken brother,” said the Owl, twisting his hand around Alec’s hair tighter. Alec clenched his eyes shut, desperately trying to figure a way out. Izzy was down, Magnus was still in Edom. Clary was locked in the Gard with a death sentence. No one was coming, because no one knew where they were. Some institute head he had shaped up to be. 

“You couldn’t let the kill order be carried out, after all,” the Owl continued, using Jace’s voice to speak aloud every terrible thought Alec had had ever since learning Jace was the Owl. “But maybe you, YOU, could  _save_ him. Maybe this could all be a bad dream and you could have your perfect little life back with your sweet little siblings all hale and whole for you to watch over. How sweet.”

The Owl released Alec, rising up to tower over him. He let Alec struggle to his hands and knees, but stomped on him between his shoulder blades before he could rise further and Alec dropped again. 

“But this bond, this soul bond you Shadowhunters are so damn enamored with. All I had to do was open that tap a little and I felt  _everything_. I could anticipate your every move! Did none of you ever consider what would happen if the bond went bad? How easily it could be turned against you?”

Alec thought of the other _parabatai_ pairs he knew. Valentine had practically executed Luke to break their bond, would have if Luke had chosen honor over life. His own father had distanced himself so far that he wasn’t even aware of Michael Wayland’s death. He remembered the piercing agony he had felt when Jace died and knew, no matter how awful it got, he could never turn on Jace. Not like Valentine. Not like his father. Alec had been breaking traditions left, right, and center for months now, and he felt no need to stop now. 

“So you opened the bond back up,” Alec gasped, glaring up at the Owl. His face was cast in shadows from the flames, but Jace’s two-toned eyes stared down at him, without a speck of Jace looking through. “I thought Jace had just blocked me.”

Now that the Owl was floating through, Alec could feel the bond thrumming between them, what had previously been a trickle in a drought now a coursing river, strong between them. But instead of the warm glow Alec associated with his connection to Jace, the bond felt tainted. Dirty. Like ichor was spreading between them, coating the golden bond. Alec looked away from the Owl, barely ruffled from the all out brawl between him and the Lightwood siblings, down to the fire still crackling next to him. He kept the bond open wide. 

“When I first took over, it seemed like a weakness,” the Owl said. He started to circle Alec, clearly enjoying having him at his feet. Alec had no weapons and no back up. The Owl could take his time. “But then I realized I could use it against you just as easily as you did me.”

The Owl finished speaking in a hiss, still furious that they had trapped him once. Alec smirked a little, letting himself enjoy knowing they had gotten under the Owl’s skin, however briefly. 

“My queen wants all of your brother’s friends and family destroyed. He already killed his last blood relative. You’re the next best thing on the list. And what better way to destroy you then to use the very bond that connects you?” 

“Funny,” Alec gasped, turning to look over his shoulder at the Owl. He reached out for the bond again, making sure it was wide open, strong despite the ichor leaking through. “I was just thinking the same thing.” 

Before the Owl could respond, Alec rolled away, towards the hellfire. The Owl grabbed for him, but not before the fire caught Alec’s arm, instantly burning through his jacket, his shirt, the runes he had trained long hours for, down through the skin to the bone. Even as Alec heard himself screaming, he focused that pain into the bond. The hellfire couldn’t hurt the Owl or Jace, but it could hurt Alec and he could send that pain across the connection, hitting the Owl from the inside. Magnus had said that the Owl needed to be eviscerated, and Alec was out of other options. He would burn the Owl out of Jace, or die trying. 

Alec was certain death would come before he succeeded, Jace’s screams mixing with his own as he continued to shove the hellfire through the bond. He couldn’t do anything, couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe past the pain, the fire licking its way up his arm, engulfinghis shoulder and singing his hair. He could feel his skin burn away, feel the material of his clothes dissolve into ashes, and he knew, distantly, that the loudest screams were his own. Through it all though, he fought with the Owl over the bond, forcing the demon’s hands away as he tried to break the connection, using the one advantage Alec still had: he was a born Shadowhunter, and he and Jace had been _parabatai_ for years. Alec was intimately familiar with their bond in ways the Owl had no way of knowing, not if Jace was battling him from the inside like Alec was from the outside. And Alec could feel it, feel Jace, forcing the bond to stay open from the other side, forcing the Owl to feel the hellfire he had been flinging around so confidently earlier. Little by little, the Owl was driven back, away, screaming in pain, in rage. In defeat. 

And then, just as the fire started moving higher, towards Alec’s face, across his back, it was over. Hands fisted in the back of Alec’s jacket, pulling him out of the direct fire. Runes glowed golden before Alec’s eyes and the flames still clinging to him were extinguished. Alec’s senses started slowly coming back to him, as someone pulled at his shirt to find his healing rune. Whispers started filtering through and his vision was no longer filled with fire, but the black sky far above him. 

“-do, Alec? What did you do, by the angel, oh please, please, wake up, Alec, please don’t leave me, not like this, Alec-”

Alec blinked a few times, struggling to focus past the agony radiating down his arm, but the voice sounded upset and Alec had to see how he could help. Hands were gripping him tight, and as Alec struggled to bring himself into the present, he realized he was sprawled across Jace’s lap, Jace’s broken pleas reaching his ears. Alec looked up, and his _parabatai_ looked back. 

“Jace,” Alec breathed, overcome with relief. He tried to reach for Jace, but the pain that shot down his arm whited out his vision and left him gasping. 

“Don’t move, buddy, okay? I got you, don’t move, it’s going to be okay,” Jace said, gripping Alec tighter on his lap. Tears were streaming down his face and Alec could feel him shaking. 

“Jace,” Alec gritted out, voice tight with pain. He was tired, so tired all of a sudden, but he had to know. “The Owl-”

“He’s gone,” Jace said. “You did it, Alec, he burned away. God, Alec, that was so stupid, how could you-”

“I had to,” Alec replied. Exhaustion was rolling over him in waves, but he didn’t want to leave Jace alone. Not yet, not again. “I promised you, and I failed. Had to... make it right.”

“Shut up, Alec,” Jace said, dragging Alec closer still and burying his face in Alec’s hair. “You might never use your arm again, but you promised me?” 

“Exactly,” said Alec, pleased Jace understood. He could feel himself drifting away, the pain in his arm dragging him down even as he lay safe in the arms of his brother. He heard Izzy rousing behind them, and he knew if he decided to check out for awhile, Jace still wouldn’t be alone. 

Alec finally felt like he could breathe. 

**Author's Note:**

> Sooooo, I wrote this four months ago, right after 3x08 aired, but I didn't clean it up in time to post before the 3a finale, which had the parabatai fight that was actually everything I ever wanted in canon, so couldn't muster up the motivation to finish this. It's been hanging over me for all these months though, and I figured I should finish something, so I tinkered with it a little bit, and now my baby's off to destroy people... Or at least make them cry a little, idk. I find the parabatai bond so fascinating, despite how it gets mishandled in canon, and I just wanted to explore how it could be weaponized against each other.


End file.
